Woman In Coma Gives Birth

By: Alexander Burns | September 12, 2017

Out of a family's difficult time, something beautiful entered the world.

Carrie DeKlyen, 37, discovered she was pregnant just two weeks after she was diagnosed with glioblastoma. After her condition deteriorated, Mrs. DeKlyen was left unresponsive in a coma; however, her baby was also suffering, leading to an emergency C-section being performed and the baby being born.

Mrs. DeKlyen gave birth to her daughter when she was just shy of 24 weeks of gestation. Sadly, Mrs. DeKlyen has been in a coma for almost five weeks due to a stroke related to her terminal illness and did not get to witness the birth of her child. The newborn baby, named Life Lynn, weighed only 1lb, falling into the 3rd infant weight percentile.

Mrs. DeKlyen discovered she was pregnant mere weeks after being diagnosed with glioblastoma, an aggressive cancer that begins in the brain. Nick DeKlyen, Mrs. DeKlyen’s husband, revealed that although it “was always [his] choice” to see the pregnancy through, he ultimately left the decision of whether to terminate the pregnancy up to his wife, stating he “asked her what she wanted to do,” in which she replied “We are keeping it.”

Despite undergoing numerous surgeries to remove the tumors, Mrs. DeKlyen was not able to fight off her disease and tragically suffered a stroke. The stroke left Mrs. DeKlyen completely unresponsive to any stimulus and has meant that she is now reliant on life support.

Even after all of Mrs. DeKlyen's battles, the baby still managed to thrive and remained healthy throughout Mrs. DeKlyen’s early pregnancy. Unfortunately, when Mrs. DeKlyen suffered her stroke, her baby’s health also took a turn for the worst. Struggling along with her mother, doctors decided to perform an emergency Cesarean section in order to save the baby’s life. Although she was delivered after only 24 weeks of gestation and was severely underweight, Life Lynn appears to be in relatively good health.

Mr. DeKlyen and friends of the family have set up a GoFundMe page and a Facebook page in order to raise funds for Mrs. DeKlyen’s and their newborn baby’s medical expenses. In an emotional update to Facebook, Sonya Nelson, Mrs. DeKlyen’s sister-in-law, revealed that Mrs. DeKlyen’s condition has worsened:

“I just spoke with Nick and he wanted me to update. We have tried to share Carrie's story without being negative, but the bottom line is we need to share the reality of the situation. Carrie is not doing well. For the past few days she has been completely unresponsive, she is not even responding to pain. They tell us she can still hear us as hearing is the last to go.”

Mr. and Mrs. DeKlyen now share six children. Mr. DeKleyn has expressed the difficulties his children are facing, particularly the older children. “The older ones obviously understand everything so it is very hard on them,” Mr. DeKlyen revealed to ABC news. “They love their mother and know what they are losing. We talk about good times and laugh and then sometimes we just cry because we just miss her so much. The younger two do not really understand what is happening.”